The Ocean Cleanup — Full Overview
The Ocean Cleanup — Deep Research Dossier
Subject: The Ocean Cleanup (Stichting The Ocean Cleanup) Founded: 2013 by Boyan Slat (Dutch, born 1994) HQ: Rotterdam, Netherlands Type: Non-profit foundation (Stichting) Employees: ~408 (Dec 2024) Mission: Rid the world's oceans of plastic — oceans and rivers
Fleet & Ocean Systems
System 001 ("Wilson") — RETIRED
- Deployed September 2018 from San Francisco to GPGP
- 600m long U-shaped floating barrier, HDPE sections, 3m deep skirt
- FAILED: Broke apart January 2019 (fatigue fracture). Could not retain plastic
- System 001/B ("Wilson Prime") deployed June 2019, shortened to 160m with parachute sea anchor. Successfully caught plastic October 2019 — proof of concept validated
System 002 ("Jenny") — RETIRED
- Deployed July 2021
- 800m long artificial coastline towed between two vessels
- Total catch: 282,787 kg across operational life
- Area covered: 8,352 km²
System 03 ("Josh") — ACTIVE
- Deployed August 2023 to GPGP
- 2,200m (2.2 km / 1.4 miles) long barrier — nearly 3x System 002
- Screen depth: 4m below surface
- Tow vessels: Maersk Tender and Maersk Trader (~1.5 knots)
- Cleaning rate: area of a football field every 5 seconds at peak
- Marine Animal Safety Hatch (MASH) with 10 underwater cameras
- 2024: 112 extractions from GPGP
- 2025: Extraction on hiatus for hotspot hunting/mapping initiative
- 2026: Returned to GPGP with optimized hotspot targeting
River Interceptors (~21+ units deployed)
Interceptor Types (5 models)
| Model | Description | Power |
|---|---|---|
| Interceptor Original | High-tech catamaran with conveyor belt, 8m x 24m, 50m³ barge | Solar-powered, autonomous, 4G cloud-connected |
| Interceptor Barrier | Standalone floating barrier at river mouth | No electricity required |
| Interceptor Tender | Small powered barge with conveyor belt | Powered |
| Interceptor Barricade | Heavy-duty booms for high-flow rivers (XL: 158m long) | Passive |
| Interceptor Guard | Shallow-water unit, permeable barrier | Passive |
Deployment Locations
Indonesia (Jakarta, Cisadane), Malaysia (Klang River x2), Vietnam (Can Tho), Dominican Republic (Rio Ozama), Guatemala (Rio Las Vacas, El Quetzalito), USA (Ballona Creek LA), Jamaica (Kingston Harbour — multi-unit), Thailand (Bangkok Chao Phraya), Panama (Rio Abajo)30 Cities Program
Goal: deploy across 30 key cities in Asia and Americas to eliminate up to one-third of all river-to-ocean plastic flow by 2030. Upcoming: Manila (2026), Mumbai, LA expansion.Plastic Removal Results
The Buried Lede: ~95% Comes from Rivers
| Date | Cumulative Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| April 2024 | 10,000,000 kg | 6 years of operations |
| November 2024 | 20,000,000 kg | Doubled in 7 months |
| End of 2025 | 45,000,000+ kg | 25M kg in 2025 alone |
| January 2026 | 50,000,000+ kg | 50,000 metric tonnes |
Processing — What Happens to the Plastic
Ocean plastic: Brought to shore, sorted by polymer type, shredded, washed, extruded. Chain-of-Custody certified.
Products made: Sunglasses (2020, designed by Yves Behar), Coldplay "Moon Music" LP (70% river PET), Kia trunk liner (40% ocean plastic).
River plastic: Processing varies by location. Guatemala: organic waste composted, PET recycled at Terra Polyester. Jamaica: PET and HDPE exported. Indonesia: Tanjung Burung Waste Bank scaled to 600,000 kg/month. Malaysia: new sorting facility processes 15,000 kg/day.
Funding History
| Date | Source | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Crowdfunding (38,000+ donors, 160 countries) | $2,154,282 |
| 2017 | Round (Benioff, Thiel, Julius Baer, Royal DSM) | $21,700,000 |
| 2018 | Macquarie Group Foundation | ~$6.5M (10M AUD) |
| 2019 | Coca-Cola Company | Undisclosed |
| 2021 | #TeamSeas (MrBeast + Mark Rober) | ~$15M |
| 2022 | Kia | Undisclosed (7-year deal) |
| 2023 | Joe Gebbia (Airbnb co-founder) | $25,000,000 |
| 2022+ | Societe Generale | Undisclosed (3-year) |
| 2024 | Benioff Ocean Initiative | $1,000,000 |
GPGP full cleanup cost estimate: $7.5 billion (published September 2024). No funding path articulated.
Cost Per Kilogram
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Actual cost (ocean) | >$5/kg |
| Market value of recovered plastic | ~$0.30/kg |
| Cost per tonne (comparable operations) | ~$8,900/tonne |
| Net financial loss per kg | -$5/kg |
| Net societal benefit | +$7/kg (environmental/health value exceeds cost) |
GPGP Mapping & Research
Key Publications
| Paper | Year | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| "Evidence that the GPGP is rapidly accumulating plastic" (Nature) | 2018 | 79,000 tonnes across 1.6M km² |
| "Seven years into the North Pacific garbage patch" | 2024 | Concentrations rose from 2.9 to 14.2 kg/km² (2015–2022) |
| "Transient Attracting Profiles in the GPGP" | 2024 | Identified hotspot mechanisms, avg 6-day persistence |
| NEBA study (Scientific Reports/Nature) | 2025 | Net positive environmental impact from cleanup |
Hotspot Hunting (2025–2026)
Lagrangian simulations + AI/ML (AWS partnership) predict daily hotspot locations. 2025 dedicated to mapping; 2026 uses data for targeted extraction.Data availability: Publications open-access via Scientific Reports. Raw survey data not openly published as datasets.
Criticism
- Only ~3% of ocean plastic floats on surface — systems cannot reach the 97% in water column/seafloor
- Bycatch: 1,300 kg incidental catch (fish, mollusks, crustaceans) July 2021–December 2023
- Scale: One study estimated 200 devices × 130 years to capture 5% of floating plastics
- Performance shortfall: Researchers estimated collection rates 3.7–5.5x lower than projected
- Distraction from root causes: All 15 surveyed experts preferred prevention over removal
- Counter: 2025 NEBA study found cleanup has "net positive impact" — marine life vulnerability to plastic (2.3) exceeds vulnerability to cleanup (1.8)
Partnership Angle for The Claw
Their GPGP hotspot mapping data is gold — peer-reviewed concentration maps, AI/ML prediction models, Lagrangian simulations showing exactly where plastic concentrates. This is precisely the data needed to position a stationary platform. They know where the plastic is; The Claw proposes how to process it in situ. Natural data partner.